I was once trying to explain to a physician the necessity and
meaning of consecration, but he seemed unable to understand. At
last I said to him, "Suppose, in going on your rounds among your
patients, you should meet with one man who entreated you earnestly
to take his case in order to cure him, but who should at the same
time refuse to take all your prescribed remedies, and should say
to you, ‘I am quite willing to follow your directions as to
certain things, because they commend themselves to my mind as
good, but in other matters I prefer judging for myself, and
following my own directions.’ What would you do in such a case?" I
asked. "Do!" he replied with indignation,--"Do! I would soon leave
such a man as that to his own care. For, of course," he added, "I
could do nothing for him unless he would put his whole case into
my hands without reservations, and would obey my directions
implicitly." "It is necessary, then," I said, "for doctors to be
obeyed if they are to have any chance to cure their patient?"
"Implicitly obeyed!" was his emphatic reply. "And that is
consecration," I continued. "God must have the whole case put into
His hands without any reservations, and His directions must be
implicitly followed." "I see it," he exclaimed, "I see it! And I
will do it. God shall have His own way with me from now on."

To a soul ignorant of God, this may look hard; but to those who
know Him it is the happiest and most restful of lives. He is our
Father, and He loves us, and He knows just what is best, and
therefore, of course, His will is the very most blessed thing that
can come to us under any circumstances. I do not understand how it
is that the eyes of so many Christians have been blinded to this
fact. But it would really seem as if God's own children were more
afraid of His will than of anything else in life,-- His lovely,
lovable will, which only means loving-kindnesses and tender
mercies, and blessings unspeakable to their souls. I wish
only that I could show to everyone the unfathomable sweetness of
the will of God. Heaven is a place of infinite bliss because
His will is perfectly done there, and our lives share in this
bliss just in proportion as His will is perfectly done in them. He
loves us, --loves us, I say, -- and the will of love is always
blessing for its loved one.

Perhaps the word "abandonment" might express this idea better
than the word "consecration." But whatever word we use, we mean an
entire surrender of the whole being to God,--spirit, soul, and
body placed under His absolute control, for Him to do with us just
what He pleases. We mean a life of inevitable obedience.

I beg of you not to look at it as a hard and stern demand. You
must do it gladly, thankfully, enthusiastically. Simply say to the
Lord, "I want You to do whatever You think best with me. I will
trust Your love." I can assure you, from the universal testimony
of all who have tried it, that you will find it the happiest place
you have ever entered yet.